Second Spectrum, L.A. Clippers grow relationship with AWS
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Editor
| 17 February 2019

Aiming to maximise its services to bring fans deeper into the game , sports software engineering firm Second Spectrum and NBA team the L.A. Clippers have taken on AWS as official cloud and machine learning provider.

The deal will see AWS as the primary cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence provider of Clippers CourtVision, the live, augmented game-watching platform created by the National Basketball Association side and the NBA’s official video tracking technology firm.
Clippers CourtVision launched at the start of the 2018-19 basketball season and has been billed by experts as the future of sports viewing. Second Spectrum uses cameras in all 29 NBA arenas to collect 3D spatial data including ball and player locations and movements, which is stored and analysed on in real time.

The Clippers and Second Spectrum will now use AWS machine learning and data analytics services to advance game analyses and drive new experiences. Tapping AWS’s range of services, Second Spectrum uses that data to generate augmented graphical overlays on Clippers broadcasts in real time, offering users an array of content options and Clippers CourtVision Modes with features ranging from live layouts of basketball plays, to the frame-by-frame probability of a shot going in, to a suite of animated graphics, giving fans a deeper understanding of and interaction with the game as the action unfurls on the court.

Clippers CourtVision uses AWS Elemental Media Services to deliver the live game-watching experience. In addition, Clippers CourtVision will test Amazon SageMaker to build, train, and deploy machine learning-driven stats which will appear on live broadcasts and on-demand NBA game videos.

“Innovation only happens when big vision is integrated with technological capabilities to bring that vision to life,” said Clippers chief global partnerships officer Scott Sonnenberg.

“Our goal in launching Clippers CourtVision with Second Spectrum was to evolve the sports broadcasting experience. That goal has been realised in large part due to a collaborative approach to computing solutions built utilising AWS. Using AWS, Second Spectrum is optimising the speed and capabilities of Clippers CourtVision’s technology. Ultimately, we believe this technology powered by AWS will drive a revolution in the broadcast experience that translates Second Spectrum’s cutting-edge machine learning and augmented reality to all sports, so that fans can watch their game, their way.”

The Clippers CourtVision digital viewing experience, now ‘powered by Amazon Web Services,’ is available to FOX Sports Prime Ticket subscribers via the FOX Sports mobile application as well as in a limited Beta release, which has additional customisation features that include the choice of seven different camera angles and three different audio experiences, including the sneaker squeaks of in-arena sound.